It seems that kids are leading the green initiatives to make the world a better place to live. A 9 year old kid was in the news recently for his efforts to reduce plastic straw usage in his city. He managed to encourage restaurants to give up plastic straws as a complementary item. Instead, plastic straws have become optional and restaurants will give it to you when you ask for it. This has certainly helped restaurants to reduce plastic straw usage significantly.
A group of Mills Lawn School students have come up with a “baggerie” which is a blue wooden structure installed near the front door of Tom’s Market, Yellow Springs (Ohio). The baggerie houses reusable shopping bags which can be borrowed (and returned) by store patrons when they visit the store. This is a great initiative by the students to reduce the use of plastic bags for saving the environment from unnecessary harm. Although this started on a very small scale, the outcomes are pretty good. The village has already benefited a lot due to the reduced plastic bags.
“Please use the baggerie,” team member Nick Calfee, 12, said in an interview this week. “It’s a very friendly way of illuminating the problem of plastic bags which are killing animals and polluting the earth. I learned that even the smallest things can make a difference in the world if you try.” When kids undertake such valuable initiatives, it encourages adults to take even more green initiatives.
The students were inspired to create the baggerie after watching the documentary “Bag It”. The documentary highlighted that it takes at least 500 years for plastic to degrade. Plus, they were moved by the plight of marine animals that are getting entangled and hurt by the plastic pollution. All of this can be minimized and eventually resolved by taking one baby step at a time to eradicate plastic from our lives.
The kids have really helped their village to become plastic free. If they can do it, so can you. Even if you don’t find a baggerie at your local retail store, you can always get reusable shopping bags. They are durable and can carry 3 times the weight of products that are carried by a single plastic bag. Plus, you can always wash them before reusing. Check out this 5 star rated reusable shopping bag. It’s efficient, convenient, stylish and the best reusable shopping bag on the market.